lilmatty5dimes Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Wow great garden. Sucks when those pricey ones melt away but the cheap ways grows like a huge weed. Lol do you have any regret hooking up your frag tank with your display tank? I'm thinking of doing the same thing here very shortly. 1 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 Wow, everything looks great! Thanks for sharing all you've been learning. I need to do some research on zoas and gac, that's really interesting. Hey there! Honestly different people use different things. For instance Joshporksandwhich (he and Vance Willer have the best collections) uses GAC and GFO in a reactor. He runs T5's though. My thought is there is a link between water depth (this tank is shallow), water clarity (Vibrant and GAC) and LED intensity. If you can find the right spot the zoa's will thrive. I am trying the Vibrant, but no GAC route. I knocked my Nanobox's down to 25% and started from there. I have also added much more white than I ever used over zoa's. Here are my current graphs: Looking great! Save yourself a couple bucks. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/94232-REG/Hoya_S52MCU_52mm_Macro_Close_up_10.html Make sure to use the one for your lens. It will be in mm. -Dave Awesome dude thanks! Think I should just go to the store with my lens to make sure I get the right filter? I was thinking of going anyway to find a real gel filter. I am at the moment taping a organish gel filter to my lens. That gel filter is beat up and needs replaced. Would be nice to get a legit one that fit the lens and is the right color. I use the orange with 9900K white balance. Wow great garden. Sucks when those pricey ones melt away but the cheap ways grows like a huge weed. Lol do you have any regret hooking up your frag tank with your display tank? I'm thinking of doing the same thing here very shortly. Yea. I had Asskraks and Krak Gods melt after both were thriving for a few months. Had even fragged them. After speaking with a vendor last night (I caved and bought 1p Strat ) he admitted the Kraks are known melters. Just cannot keep them next to a Bam Bam or BBEB and expect them to live in the same conditions. I do have some very nice high end zoas like Pink Diamonds, real Hallunications, real Bowsers, Latin Lovers, etc that have done very well in my tank thus far though! I bought this tank from a gentleman on this furm named Hecdr. He custom builds them. I think this one was his first? After changing the sump I found the plumbing to be a challenge due to space, but not because of the frag tank causing any issues. You just have to make sure you have proper ball valves to control your flow and make sure whoever builds it understand gravity well! 1 Quote Link to comment
zoohed Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Fantastic garden! Do you have a link to where you got your cover made? I saw a name but that was about it. 1 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 Fantastic garden! Do you have a link to where you got your cover made? I saw a name but that was about it. Thanks! Smiz, from the forum, used to make them, but he does not any longer from what I understand. I do believe there are others though who do make them. Sorry, I can't think of any names! Quote Link to comment
zoohed Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Thanks! Smiz, from the forum, used to make them, but he does not any longer from what I understand. I do believe there are others though who do make them. Sorry, I can't think of any names! No worries. Thanks Quote Link to comment
Paulo Torres Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 Hello! I like very much your Zoas Garden One question, do you feed Zoanthus? Regards 1 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 Hi all, 2017 was a very busy year for me and I see now that I have not posted in nearly 1 year! To make a long story short, I spent 40 days in South Africa for work and while my girlfriend did a fantastic job taking care of the tanks, I failed to recognize prior to leaving that the zoa's were not consuming the same amount of Alkalinity as they had been. I left my DOS running at the same amount while away and it eventually rose to a very high level. I lost a majority of my collection and every single collector piece I had. It took me a few months to get over the losses and I questioned as to whether I should keep this tank running or not. I thought about consolidating it with my mixed reef, but until very recently that tank was still suffering from a very invasive brown xenia type coral. I then went to Reefapalooza in NJ and found some of my favorite, cheaper zoa's that I had lost and decided to buy a few. During this time I also decided to not mess with the tank. I removed the DOS entirely and cut back on coral feeding. Between May 2017 and now, the tank has recovered nicely and I believe it has a lot to do with my hands-off approach (and the amazing advise of Kat ). 20-25% water changes are done every 3 weeks. I continue to run the over-sized skimmer and pull out semi-wet skimmate. I broadcast feed the zoas amino acids every 3 days. I rotate between Brightwell's Coral Amino, Polplab's Polyp Booster and Seachem's Fuel, but I am leaning towards using just Fuel and Coral Amino. Once a week I target feed a mixture of BRS Reef Chili and Polyplab's Reef Roids. Every 3 days I dose Continuum's Reef Basis Sustain (slow release Iodine) and Brightwell's Vitarmin-C. I will be adding Brightwell's Strontion (Strontium) to my arsenal next week. I also plan to switch to Brightwell's Iodion (Iodine) from Sustain next week to see if I noticed anything different. Currently living in the tank are 4 ORA Yellow Cardinalfish (Ostorinchus luteus), a captive bred Yasha White Ray Shrimp Goby (Stonogobiops yasha) paired with a Candy Cane Snapping Shrimp (Alpheus randalli) and a Green Clown Goby. I feed either LRS Reef Frenzy or Rod's Original Blend once a day. Some of the zoas, mainly the bigger palys, enjoy munching on the frozen food. Every other day, or so, I feed Hikari Seaweed Extreme to add some veggies to the fishies diet. Current FTS: Before the holidays, I placed an order with iFragit, who I bought from at RAP in NJ, and I am very happy with the frags he sent. They are all open and happy. I will be placing another order in the next week or 2 with them and this tank should really be filling up! Thanks for following! 5 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Welcome back @NYfishies Sorry to hear about the setbacks, but it's great to see your tank is now back on track! I love all the zoanthid collection, and WOW what a selection of fish! Have you been able to capture any shots of the Yasha White Ray Shrimp Goby and Candy Cane Snapping Shrimp together yet? I didn't realize yashas were being captive bred already! 1 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 6 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: Welcome back @NYfishies Sorry to hear about the setbacks, but it's great to see your tank is now back on track! I love all the zoanthid collection, and WOW what a selection of fish! Have you been able to capture any shots of the Yasha White Ray Shrimp Goby and Candy Cane Snapping Shrimp together yet? I didn't realize yashas were being captive bred already! Hey man! Come back to NYC The Yasha is out of his cave all day and goes in at night. The shrimp comes out all the time and neither is the least bit shy! I will try to snap a shot tomorrow when the lights come back on. I got the Yasha from LA after losing my last one to old age. He paired with the shrimp immediately. At this point we are looking to only get captive bred fish and love ORA. I have been waiting for them to release the Red Sea Mimic Blenny for 2 years! I may just get a Blackline Blenny (Meiacanthus nigrolineatus) instead as they look very similar. 3 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 I hope I can visit NYC again some day soon, there just wasn't enough time! That was a lot of fun! 11 minutes ago, NYfishies said: At this point we are looking to only get captive bred fish and love ORA. I have been waiting for them to release the Red Sea Mimic Blenny for 2 years! I may just get a Blackline Blenny (Meiacanthus nigrolineatus) instead as they look very similar. How cool, ORA does amazing stuff! I wasn't familiar with the red sea mimic blenny or the blackline, I can see the appeal! Quote Link to comment
DCUEVAS74 Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 What an awesome journal! Your perseverance is impressive. Great job sticking with the up and downs of this hobby. It can be a frustrating process but rewarding. Keep up the great work and those are some great photos of your setup. 2 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 On 1/26/2018 at 12:23 PM, DCUEVAS74 said: What an awesome journal! Your perseverance is impressive. Great job sticking with the up and downs of this hobby. It can be a frustrating process but rewarding. Keep up the great work and those are some great photos of your setup. Thank you very much for your kind and inspiring words! I love this hobby. I love little fishies and colorful happy corals. Yesterday, I placed another large zoa order with iFragit after being very pleased with my first order. I picked up: Blue Hornets Black Hornets Rainbow Hornets LA Lakers Super Saiyans Yellow Brick Roads Fizzy Lizzys Super Mauls Bowsers Latin Lovers Moneyshot / Hyper Jubilee Super chuffed to go home today and see if they have opened up! I also decided, after several days of testing and manually dosing Alk, to reinstall the DOS. I am now dosing 2.7 ml per day to maintain 7.5-8 dKH. I started to dose Strontium as well. The tank seems very happy so not sure if the more consistent Alk is helping or if Strontium is doing anything. Thanks for following! 3 Quote Link to comment
rO.oster Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Looking forward to seeing the revival! 1 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 Hi all, I have placed all of the new zoa's and the tank is really filling in. Alk is holding at 7.5 - 8 dKH with 2.7 ml dosed each day (during lights out period). The tank is super clean. Thanks for following! Photo dump: 3 2 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 A zoanthid lovers dream That's a seriously impressive collection you're building! 2 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 7 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said: A zoanthid lovers dream That's a seriously impressive collection you're building! Thanks A few more pics! 5 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Looks beautiful, what a great comeback! I'm glad you stuck it out. It's really discouraging when a disaster takes out everything, but I love the new zoas! 2 Quote Link to comment
DaveFason Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Things are really looking great! RAP NY watch out! 2 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted February 25, 2018 Author Share Posted February 25, 2018 On 2/4/2018 at 2:44 PM, teenyreef said: Looks beautiful, what a great comeback! I'm glad you stuck it out. It's really discouraging when a disaster takes out everything, but I love the new zoas! On 2/20/2018 at 9:03 AM, DaveFason said: Things are really looking great! RAP NY watch out! Thanks guys! Appreciate it. Things are going good with the tank. The zoas are all showing great colors and for the most part seem to be growing. Besides the 2 blue legged hermits cruising around, all polyps are staying open. Couldn't be happier! Here are some updated shots: 4 Quote Link to comment
Ranjib Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 Great looking tank :-) . Love the dimension of this tank, 1 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 On 2/24/2018 at 10:48 PM, Ranjib said: Great looking tank :-) . Love the dimension of this tank, Thanks! The small and shallow size makes it very easy to keep clean which I love. I decided to update my tank finances today and specifically my list of zoas. Below is my updated list: 03/28/15 Blowpops 04/10/15 Tyree Rastas 05/01/15 DC Full Metal Bursts 05/09/15 Pink Zipper 05/09/15 Bam Bam 05/09/15 Scrambled Eggs 05/09/15 Hooters 05/21/15 Alien Anti-Venom 05/21/15 Tutti Fruiti 05/21/15 Vulcan Blood 06/19/15 CB God of War 06/19/15 Fairy Tales 06/27/15 Blonde Blue Eyed Bitches 07/11/15 Ultra Gobbstoppers 07/11/15 LC Petroglyths 08/30/15 Jungle Juice/Juicy Fruit 08/30/15 NYCK Pink Sakuras (???) 11/02/15 Solar Fusion 04/10/16 Chucky's Bride 04/10/16 NYCK Pink ??? 06/24/17 Blue Hornets 06/24/17 Yodas 06/24/17 Goblin on Fires 12/11/17 Emeralds on Fire 12/11/17 Rastas 12/11/17 King Midas 12/11/17 Sunny D's 12/11/17 Iron Fist 12/11/17 Purple Monster 12/11/17 Oxides 12/11/17 Mandarin Oranges 12/11/17 Speckled Fire & Ice 12/11/17 Red Hornets 12/11/17 Goblins on Fire 01/19/18 Blue Hornets 01/19/18 Black Hornets 01/19/18 Rainbow Hornets 01/19/18 LA Lakers 01/19/18 Super Saiyans 01/19/18 Yellow Brick Roads 01/19/18 Fizzy Lizzys 01/19/18 Super Mauls 01/19/18 Bowsers 01/19/18 Latin Lovers 01/19/18 Moneyshot/Hyper Jubilee 02/22/18 RR Pink Diamonds 02/22/18 Speckled Krackatoa 02/22/18 Triple Sec 02/25/18 Treehouse of Horror 02/25/18 Blue Panama The last few I will receive on Tuesday. Excited that my collection is coming back together! 2 2 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted March 2, 2018 Author Share Posted March 2, 2018 Hi all, My list is dangerously growing, but the tank is doing so well I cannot help myself! 03/28/15 Blowpops 04/10/15 Tyree Rastas 05/01/15 DC Full Metal Bursts 05/09/15 Pink Zipper 05/09/15 Bam Bam 05/09/15 Scrambled Eggs 05/09/15 Hooters 05/21/15 Alien Anti-Venom 05/21/15 Tutti Fruiti 05/21/15 Vulcan Blood 06/19/15 CB God of War 06/19/15 Fairy Tales 06/27/15 Blonde Blue Eyed Bitches 07/11/15 Ultra Gobbstoppers 07/11/15 LC Petroglyths 08/30/15 Jungle Juice/Juicy Fruit 08/30/15 NYCK Pink Sakuras (???) 11/02/15 Solar Fusion 04/10/16 Chucky's Bride 04/10/16 NYCK Pink ??? 07/09/16 RR Koala Eye 06/24/17 Blue Hornets 06/24/17 Yodas 06/24/17 Goblin on Fires 12/11/17 Emeralds on Fire 12/11/17 Rastas 12/11/17 King Midas 12/11/17 Sunny D's 12/11/17 Iron Fist 12/11/17 Purple Monster 12/11/17 Oxides 12/11/17 Mandarin Oranges 12/11/17 Speckled Fire & Ice 12/11/17 Red Hornets 12/11/17 Goblins on Fire 01/19/18 Blue Hornets 01/19/18 Black Hornets 01/19/18 Rainbow Hornets 01/19/18 LA Lakers 01/19/18 Super Saiyans 01/19/18 Yellow Brick Roads 01/19/18 Fizzy Lizzys 01/19/18 Super Mauls 01/19/18 Bowsers 01/19/18 Latin Lovers 01/19/18 Moneyshot/Hyper Jubilee 02/22/18 RR Pink Diamonds 02/22/18 Speckled Krackatoa 02/22/18 Triple Sec 02/25/18 Treehouse of Horror 02/25/18 Blue Panama 02/27/18 Keds Reds 02/27/18 Green Bay Packers 02/27/18 Yellow Submarine 02/27/18 Gold Maul 02/27/18 Darth Maul 02/27/18 Adonis Maul 02/27/18 Purple Sticky Punch Here are some update pics! 4 Quote Link to comment
Abeal1117 Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Where do you get some of your Zoas? I know a few good sites, but nothing has zoas any where close to yours. 1 Quote Link to comment
1.0reef Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Nice setup, nice to see some yellow cardinal fish! Such an underrated species. 1 Quote Link to comment
NYfishies Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 On 3/3/2018 at 7:25 PM, Abeal1117 said: Where do you get some of your Zoas? I know a few good sites, but nothing has zoas any where close to yours. That's a good question and one I wish I had answers to when I first got started. You must trust your sources. One third of the zoa's I have are from my first garden - prior to the tank crashing. Pretty much all of these came from 2 local (NYC) hobbyists. In December 2017 and January 2018 I purchased another 22 from an online vendor, located in FL, named iFragit Corals. I highly recommend this vendor. Keep in mind that their website is currently short zoas because of 2 recent shows they attended. Much of what they have is in grow-out now. More recently, in February and this past Saturday, I bought another 10 from semi-local (CT) hobbyists and vendors. There was a fantastic frag swap / show this weekend in CT that had more corals than RAP and Macna. I love buying from fellow reefers as this is usually where you find the gems for good prices. This hobby is very greedy when it comes to certain polyps (like the Speckled Krak and Pink Diamonds). Lastly, at the end of February I bought 7 more on eBay from a vendor named goliwala1. Although I have only bought from him once, I do recommend him. I picked up a few gems at dirt cheap prices (bidding). He sent them the next day with a few freebies and never mentioned he was giving any. I like that style. On 3/3/2018 at 10:25 PM, 1.0reef said: Nice setup, nice to see some yellow cardinal fish! Such an underrated species. Thanks! I love them and so glad we got them. They are always actively swimming around adding so much to the tank. I updated the list now that I am finishing up on my buying. Also alphabetized it. Adonis Maul Alien Anti-Venom Bam Bams Black Hornets Blonde Blue Eyed Bitches Blowpops Blue Hornets Blue Panama Bowsers Butt Kissers CB God of War Chucky's Bride Darth Maul DC Full Metal Bursts Emeralds on Fire Everlasting Gobstoppers Fairy Tales Fizzy Lizzy's Goblins on Fire Gold Maul Green Bay Packers Hallucinations Hooters Iron Fist Jungle Juice/Juicy Fruit Keds Reds KH Sunburst King Midas LA Lakers Latin Lovers LC Petroglyphs Mandarin Oranges Moneyshot/Hyper Jubilee New Pink/Purple/Green Morph - needs named WWC Halle Barry NYCK Pink Sakuras (???) Oxides Pink Zipper Purple Monster Purple Sticky Punch Rainbow Hornets Rastas Red Death Red Hornets Red People Eaters Roman Shields RR Koala Eye RR Pink Diamonds Scrambled Eggs Solar Fusion Speckled Fire & Ice Speckled Krakatoa Sunny D's Super Mauls Super Saiyans Treehouse of Horror Triple Sec Tutti Fruiti Tyree Rastas Ultra Gobbstoppers Vulcan Blood Yellow Brick Roads Yellow Submarine Yodas Here are some pics using my iPhoneX and a simple orange filter. The macro shots are using a clip on lens. Thanks for following along! 1 2 Quote Link to comment
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